Houston university topples UT as No. 1 school in the state, says new report

Houston university topples UT as No. 1 school in the state

U.S. News & World Report's 2019 Best Colleges ranking puts Rice in first place.
Courtesy of Rice University

Nearly a year after U.S. News & World Report crowned the University of Texas at Austin the No. 1 school in the state (and the 32nd best school in the entire world) among its Best Global Universities, the magazine's latest rankings have once again placed Rice University to the top spot — ahead of UT.

So how does the same publication rank Rice as best in the state in one ranking and the second best in another? The reason for the two different outcomes lies in how the data was weighted for the two rankings.

In creating the 2019 Best Colleges ranking, U.S News placed particular emphasis on student outcomes, analyzing everything from freshmen retention numbers to graduation rates of low-income students. In comparison, U.S. News researchers compiling last year's Best Global Universities rankings placed more importance on academic outcomes including professional reputation and numbers of publications produced annually.

In 2018, Rice had a 4-year graduation rate of 83 percent and a freshmen retention rate of 97 percent. Compare that to UT's graduation rate of 58 percent and freshmen retention rate of 95 percent, and the difference between the two rankings become a bit clearer.

As college becomes increasingly expensive, analyzing student outcomes is critical, says the publication. "A university is not successful if it does not graduate its students, which is why the Best Colleges rankings place the greatest value on outcomes, including graduation and retention rates," said Robert Morse, chief data strategist at U.S. News, in a release.

Nationwide, the top schools leaned heavily towards the Ivy League. Princeton University was crowned the best university in the nation followed by Harvard University (No. 2). Columbia University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Chicago, and Yale University all tied for third.

In Texas, Southern Methodist University (No. 3), Texas A&M University (No. 4), and Baylor University (No. 5) rounded out the top five spots. Locally, Southwestern University came in 12th in Texas while St. Edward's University took the 16th spot.